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Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Tonga: “Ohhh Ohhhhh Big Mama” Feast

Big Mama lives up to her name, life of
her “birthday party”

at Big Mama’s Yacht Club, Tonga.

“Don’t
you be waitin’ on Big Mama’s party to delay your hop to New Zealand,” warned
Tongas’ New Zealand-hosted Blue Water Festival weather guru John Martin.“She’ll tell you she has a birthday
party coming up in December….”

Her
“birthdays” and “birthday party”seems
to flex to meet when cruisers sail into Nuku’alofa to check out, get their
duty-free fuel, and wait for the next weather window to jump the 1,000+ miles
to New Zealand.

The band at Big Mama’s led with the
local popular

favorite Ohhhh ohhhhh Big Mama,” and played

variety of popular
favorites. The band singer on

the
far right, grew up in Tonga, but now lives in

Mt. Vernon Washington State USA –
a stone’s

throw from our former home in Everett, WA.

Party
or not, with wifi, a sweet little beach bar, a host of yachtie services and a
dinghy-able (or ferry) ride to Tonga’s capitol city, Nuku’alofa, Big Mama’s is
an easy place to hang out.

Much
as we enjoyed Big Mama’s party*, it didn’t tempt us to stay any longer than it
took us to get ready.If you are
there, though, don’t pass it up!

Spending
more time exploring Nuku’alofa.The architecture – the Palace, churches and official buildings were
different and intriguing.Nuku’alofa’s primary produce and craft market was colorful, affordable a
block large and two stories tall.It’s the kind of place I could visit daily without ever tiring of
it.We considered a car or scooter
rental to better explore the island, but the weather window, and the echo of
John Martin’s beaconed (as did the All Points Rally [party] he was one of the
hosts for in New Zealand on November 15th).

Tahitian sarongs, a little face paint,

cheers and big smiles from the crew

of Feeling Good.

Alison
of Saroni warned, “Don’t be in such a hurry to go.… Folks are getting stuck at
Minerva for a week or more.There’s nothing to do there, especially if the weather’s bad enough to
keep you aboard.If you have to
wait, wouldn’t you rather do it here, where there’s more to do?”

Maybe
so, but Minerva’s 250 miles closer to New Zealand than Nuku’alofa, Tongatapu,
Tonga.

Posers! A small preamble to the group photo. Hopefully someone

taking whole group
photos as sunset from Big Mama’s party

will share theirs.

While
Big Mama doesn’t charge for anchoring, once there, there’s lots to spend money
on, both at the “yacht club” and on the island of Tongatapu.

The Dutch Armada hams it up in
Halloween costume

at Big Mama’s Yacht Club.

Whole roasted suckling pig – the
hallmark of an upscale Tongan

feast. At Big Mama’s Yacht Club dinner was $30

TOP/person (about $15
USD/person).

Minerva
may be in the middle of nowhere, but it’s impossible to spend any money
there.Besides, Minerva offered
some of the best snorkeling of this year (watch for Minerva underwater photos
in future blog posts and eventually some short video clips), though Fakarava
still is the runaway winner with that prize in my book.Scenery-wise, while Tongatapu is a
pleasant dalliance, Minerva’s beauty is surreal.

Purple potatoes, which were deliciously
smoky from cooking

in an umu (underground) oven at Big Mama’s “birthday party.”

Big Mama never lacked for dance
partners.

This dance 'twas with
Simon of Aura.

Ultimately,
Alison was right.But so were we.

Big
Mama’s was great fun.Both her
party and Minerva Reef will be treasured – albeit each very different --
memories.

For
Saroni, New Zealand marks the end of 8 years of cruising, their return
home.In their shoes, I might drag
my feet a bit, too.

For
us, New Zealand is a new cruising adventure.

It’s official; our very own Big Mama’s
Yacht Club certificate.

Location Location

Opua, New Zealand,Bay of Islands Marina(S35.18.825 E174.07.312). The fuel was taken on outside Nuku'alofa, Kingdom of Tonga (S21 07.134 W175 09.622).

Journey, our Pearson 365 sailboat,
glimmering in the dusk

at anchor off Big Mama’s.

Cruising By the NumbersAs the crow flies, our passage from Nuku'alofa, Tonga on November 2, 2015 to Minerva Reef** was 257 miles. It took us 2 1/2 days of 24/7 sailing to get there. We waited there nine days for a "weather window" of good sailing conditions to sail to New Zealand, another 783 "crow flies" miles. We arrived in New Zealand on Saturday, November 21, 2015, after 8 1/2 days of sailing 24/7 from Minerva Reef. **Minerva Reef is an isolated reef, offering some protection and a place to anchor. There is no "land," but the reef is briefly above water twice daily at low tide. Since we left Jacksonville Florida in December, 2014 -- less than a year ago -- we've sailed over 10,000 miles. A set of tables detailing all our stops will be added to the blog soon